MPT

Based on what? Certainly not the rules or common sense.

Exactly. You say the play is over when the player touches out of bounds with possession, and you also say possession depends on maintaining control. So if he doesn't maintain control, he never had possession. That applies in bounds or out of bounds equally. My argument is that Poyer demonstrated control by tucking the ball before he went out of bounds. If he hadn't demonstrated control, he wouldn't have possession and the pass would be incomplete.

Obviously the play was over as soon as he touched it out of bounds. That hypothetical is silly and you know it. The question is: where is the line between juggling the ball and possessing the ball? The catch rule defines it, and I agree with setting some standards to possession that are more than "he had the ball in his hands at some point". What I have an issue with is the inconsistency with which the NFL applies the rule.

Right, but you have to qualify the catch itself somehow. If Poyer had caught it and then immediately went to the ground and the ball came loose I wouldn't have any problem calling that incomplete even though he landed out of bounds with the ball in his hands. It just wouldn't make any sense to award a catch if the player can't maintain control for the fraction of a second that it takes to hit the ground. To qualify the catch, the catch rule requires a football move in order to prove that the player has control of the ball (condition "c" referenced below). When the player goes to the ground out of bounds, the rule says the following: "If a player, who satisfied (a) and (b), but has not satisfied (c), contacts the ground and loses control of the ball, it is an incomplete pass if the ball hits the ground before he regains control, or if he regains control out of bounds" I have no problem with the rule itself. It's just applied inconsistently and often incorrectly. Like in this case, where (c) was fulfilled by Poyer tucking the ball so the above stipulation shouldn't have applied.

The comments I saw mostly agreed that he couldn't have avoided contact and the receiver ducked into the hit. I'm sure there are differing opinions based on who posted the video.

First of all, "avoid contact all together" is not a tenet any football player should ever operate under while the ball is in play. Secondly, the hit on Diggs you referenced was very different. That defender came in late with plenty of time to pull up. It was an intentional attempt to injure. Hamlin's hit came while the ball was still in play and, even if he wanted to allow the receiver to catch a TD uncontested (which is ridiculous), he did not have time to avoid contact.

Objectively, I don't think I would count a toe tap as a step. I think the spirit of the rule is to affirm the player had control of the ball long enough and a toe tap can happen in a tenth of a second. To me, that wouldn't prove the player had control. However, tucking the ball away and only having it come loose when he hits the ground would, to me, affirm that he controlled the catch.

I did not realize it actually specified that! My bad

The third foot isn't really used to judge that. Players take an extra step all the time in the field of play then get the ball knocked out and it's still called an incompletion. That's why they specify "an act common to the game" and not just a step.

We've seen two plays similar to this in the past two weeks (Gabe Davis against the Vikings and Lamb on Thanksgiving) where the ball clearly moved and the review booth either didn't stop play to review it or confirmed it was a catch. Poyer had control of the ball for much longer than either of those two before the ball moved and he completed a football move by tucking the ball. If their argument is that tucking the ball isn't a valid football move, then I just hope they're consistent about it.

Al Michaels has been brutal all year. Thursday games are bad enough without him acting like he'd rather be anywhere else.

Okay I'm not complaining about the defense but can these guys wait like half a second more before diving at the other QBs feet? I can't even count how many times they've had an opposing QB dead to rights and dive too early letting him off the hook.

The defense is playing outstanding because... A lot of their injured players are back.

I hope he's got two of each.

***** Bobby Hart didn't even try to block on that pass. Luckily got it out quick.

Running into the kicker! Holy ***** they called the Pats for a soft one last week and just ignore them plowing into Martin this week?

How many times can people say a mistake is "uncharacteristic of a Bill Belichick coached team" before it's characteristic?

Pats really benefiting from these borderline calls.

Hell yeah Edmunds with the truck.

We absolutely love giving up TDs from midfield.

Garbage offensive interference call. Color me shocked.

Backups are backups because they're not as good at tackling.

Did you not watch Cooper and St. Brown carve us up in the middle of the field? That was a direct result of Edmunds being out of the lineup.

Textbook offensive PI on St. Brown. No call obviously

Coaches don't get fired for taking in the scenery and culture.